French Revolution and Napoleonic Era There are typically many motivating factors when it comes to a revolution; however those that are most generally motivating themes are liberty, equality, brotherhood, hubris, fiscal irresponsibility, democracy, and technology. The people in France in the 1700’s were separated into three classes: nobility, clergy, and the commoners. Each of the classes was under the rule of the King and required to show him loyalty. Throughout history the kings proved to be authoritarian and only beneficial for an elect few. Each king increased taxes placing a heavy burden on the people, most specifically the commoners.
She tried to do so by installing new laws in Russia. When she did so, this writing came out as a reaction to her new laws, although her laws were mostly directed to the top three percent of Russian society. The French Diplomat in Moscow was writing to a Europe audience to alert them on the news in Russia. The new laws that Catherine II placed were directed to raise Russia's power among the world. Examples of some of her laws to help Russia are The Possessions of the Russian Empire extend upon the terrestrial Globe to 32 Degrees of Latitude, and to 165 of Longitude.
However, when Peter died, he had no successors who knew how to carry on his policies, so he failed to lay the foundations of a stable state. On the other hand, Louis XIV made efforts to improve classic areas of the state, such as war, peace, religion, and the economy. Also, he got all of France’s nobles on his side. He effectively made France the most powerful superior European nation. He could afford to raise and maintain a powerful army, and could dominate Europe.
Russia was still an autocratic state (the Tsar held completed political power). The reformist groups wanted to amend this so the Tsar had less power. The reformist groups also known as the radical parties all had various different ideas as to how they were going to go about reforming the country. They grew in numbers from 1881 and gained a lot of support from various different social groups. The Socialist Revolutionary Party wanted to completely abolish the Tsar’s power and give the peasants power to advance Russia.
Catherine the Great increased the authority of the central government. This was more important to her than Westernization. After the French revolution, she was forced to ban foreign and domestic political writings. By the end of her reign, Russia had gone through a transformation. Therefore Russia became a strong centralized state.
For example, you remember Empress Catherine II of Russia, the way she entirely rejected the concept of the social contract, she took up many ideas of the Enlightenment, being a great patron of the arts in Imperial Russia and incorporating many ideas of enlightened philosophers, especially Montesquieu, in her Nakaz, which was meant to revise Russian law. What I have noticed over time throughout empires is the effect, the monarchs of enlightened absolutism ruled intent on improving the lives of their subjects in order to
In the following I will explain to what extent Louis was responsible for his problems. For Firstly, Louis XVI made the mistake of restoring parlements to France in which members of the first and second estate could remonstrate his edicts therefore, effectively they could control his reign and only allow the edicts that suited themselves to be passed. He let venality run rife and the top positions in government were then filled with the self interested rich rather the the capable. Louis XIV had prohibited his nobles and clergymen from holding too much power and perhaps this is a reason for the problems Louis XVI faced in asserting his will. Though, Louis XVI did not posses much will, in fact he was a rather disinterested and undetermined leader.
Andrew O’Buckley Period 6 Mr. Symons APWH 10.09.2014 In the 18th century, two European revolutions, the French and Haitian revolutions, were both very influential and important to Europe’s history. Both had many problems pre-revolution with social inequality. On the other hand, the way in which they overthrew their governments was very different, as well as their economic state. A similarity between the Haitian revolution and the French revolution is how both events occurred due to social inequality. The French had started to heavily tax the commoners, or third estate, because the clergy and elites were exempt of all or most taxes.
The answers can evidently be looked at in terms of the three key areas; the political, the economic and the ideological. Politically speaking, it would appear at first that the nobility was locked in a struggle for dominance with the monarchy and bourgeoisie shortly before the violence of 1789. This all seems to stem from Louis XIV’s reforms to establish control over his nobility. Through harnessing them within the parliament at Versailles and imposing restrictions on the powers and tenure of provincial governors, the Sun King was able to keep his nobles under surveillance whilst making them pander to him for political advancement. In the royal court there was now the opportunity for rich bourgeoisie to gain office.
The Creoles possessed some power, but real authority remained tantalizingly out of reach, residing only in the hands of the peninsulares. The peninsulares' power over all other Latin Americans was an important source of frustration for each social class, but it was especially infuriating to Creoles, since many of them were educated in Europe and well-versed in Enlightenment thinking. They believed in the democratic ideals of fair representation and equality, values that conflicted with the very foundation of the hierarchical Spanish colonial system. Just as those Enlightenment ideas had led the bourgeoisie to revolt in Europe during the French Revolution, they caused the Creoles to revolt in New Spain during the Latin American revolutions. However, at the same time, the Creoles were also motivated by power in a way that was much less reflective of Enlightenment values of equality.